Monday, December 31, 2012

This was the last Post I posted to my Facebook account, hence the FB references, but the same sentiments remain for those throbbing masses that read this blog. So substitute 'Moonlight Scribbler' for 'Facebook.'

"This will probably be my last post for 2012 on teh Facebook. It's been a fairly ho-hum year. Some good, some bad, and a lot of the other. But at least I fulfilled one of my goals and that was to stand at the end of the year with most of my senses more or less intact, and my mind still somewhat functional. Anything more was and is gravy. I keep my expectations low these days. Therefore, what I wish for next year is pretty much the same as last year. To be able to still be here in another 365 days, hale, somewhat hearty, and able to look back on the past year having learned something that I can use for the next year. To all my friends on teh Facebook, thanks for the laughs, counsel, the high weirdness, and letting me experience some of your lives thru this medium. I pray God's blessings on all of yinz. Hug your spouses, kids, and critters and hope and pray (if you're inclined to that sort of thing) that sanity, and peace will be the rule instead of the exception in our society. Be careful out there tonite, NYE is amateur night. And I offer my traditional New Year's Wish for all of my Facebook family. Health, happiness, healing where needed, and may your 2013 be a damn sight better than 2014. See yinz on the other side. Pierre."

Monday, December 17, 2012

As is my habit of seeing merit in both sides of an argument and being committed to neither, in most things, I don't really have a problem with the annual kerfuffle re: Happy Holidays vs Merry Christmas. I'm a Christian, although I suck at it. But I don't have the right to say that the Birth of Jesus has precedence over a holiday celebrated by non-Christians.
To me, it's not how you celebrate a holiday in public, but how you respect it in your heart and in your family. I'm not a pagan, but I respect their right to celebrate the Winter Solstice. I'm not Jewish, but if my Jewish friends asked me come to a Hanukkah observance, who am I to decline? I'm not British, but they have a right to celebrate Boxing Day. I'm black, but I don't observe Kwanzaa (although I probably should), and for those that do, more power to them. Wikipedia, the source of all unassailable truth, mentions 27 different holidays, major and minor, that occur during December.
And all of them are celebrated by someone in this world, or even in this country. Who's to say that their holidays are or are not more important to them than Christmas is to me. We in America love to throw God out there. Which one? There's a lot of them out there. There are as many incarnations and representations of God as there are people who believe in him, her, it, whatever.
To me at least, and I'm not very smart, but it's all about mutual respect of each other's beliefs and traditions. We're too damn busy shoving our beliefs down the throats who differ from us, to truly understand and listen to what those beliefs really are telling us.
I'm a live and let live kinda guy. You do your thing, and respect my right to do mine, and I'll do the same for yinz. So whether you wish me 'Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, Happy Winter Solstice, Happy Pancha Ganapati, Happy Hanukkah' or any other holiday that happens around this time of year, I wish you the same. I don't offend easily.
For me, Christmas is not something I celebrate by decorating the house and putting up a tree. I live alone, and have no close surviving relatives, so why bother. I celebrate it in my heart and in my mind. And I think we'd all be a little better off if we just practiced a little mutual tolerance. Then again, what the hell do I know?

Thursday, December 13, 2012

I love reading the stories in the local fishwrap about the NHL lockout and and the fan's comments about calling for boycotts and showing the players and owners their 'power' by not going to games in protest of how the lockout has affected local businesses and so on.
And I feel for those businesses, and the Penguins should do something for them as a token of appreciation for what their games do for local businesses, but fan boycotts? I laugh my butt off about that.
All the fans want is their hockey. Give them NHL hockey and they'll be back in a heartbeat, all will be forgiven, and talk of fan boycotts and shows of support will be just that...talk. That's what the players and owners are counting on, and most likely they will be proved right.
Show me one fan boycott that worked, or that ever got off the ground. The NHL killed their season in '04-05, and the fans came back. In '94-'95, the NHL cancelled almost half the games due to a lockout, the fans came back. The '92 strike cancelled 30 games, the fans came back. And if and when this current lockout ends, guess what, the fans will come back. Recurring theme here, boys and girls. It's like an abusive relationship. Pro sports league go on strike or have lockouts, and the fans, who always get it in the end, always come back.

Thursday, November 08, 2012

Well, the curtain has come down on probably the most divisive and bitter Presidential election in this country's history. Although I use the word 'probably' because there's no guarantee that future elections won't eclipse this one in terms of ferocity and bitterness.
And while I'm glad that my candidate won, I, for one, am not the kind of person who will gloat and rub it into the faces of those who supported the other guy. One, because it's not in my nature to do so, and Two, other than making me feel good for a few moments, it serves no useful purpose.
I have no idea about what the next four years will be like while President Obama continues to work on trying to get this country back on the right track. But I know that he can't do it all. The Constitution, among other things won't let him, and, whatever happens on his watch will be attributed to him whether he had a direct hand in it or not. Everyone needs to have a single point of blame, however unfair that is, and the Leader of the Free World happens to be it for this country, and a good chunk of the rest of the planet.

Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown, as it were.

But what I want to expound upon is an appeal to my fellow Americans to stop the divisive and bitter partisan bullshit that has crippled this country. We need to start working together to address this country's problems. No one side has all the answers, and many of the answers need the input of all sides. I do believe that people who espouse such polar opposite agendas as the Greens and the Tea Party can put their mutual distrust of each other's agendas aside, and concentrate on the common issues that affect the people of this country. I mean, when a tornado is bearing down on your community and threatening to wipe it off the map, that's not the time to be debating the existence of climate change, and refusing to help those who don't agree with you. Only an idiot would engage in such behavior, but sadly, it seems that there are those in this country that would do so.
It seems these days that it's not enough to win over your opponent, we have to rub our opponents face in their defeat. Why is it that families and friendships are destroyed because we can't agree to disagree?
I listen to the 'This American Life' podcast, and highly recommend it, by the way, and the issue that came out before the election was called 'Red State, Blue State.'

The onus of the podcast is that we as a nation are so divided that we even let our divisions affect our relations with our families and friends. People are ending long lived friendships and disowning beloved family
members simply because they don't agree with each other and don't choose to agree to disagree. This is madness. Who in their right mind would let blood and friendship suffer because of loyalty to party and philosophy? This is the sign of an immature person and an immature nation.

One of the great things about living in Pittsburgh is that on the first Saturday in October, we have an event called the 'Head of the Ohio.' It's a series of competitive rowing races that is quite popular and has gained some national attention. Have yinz ever seen how a rowing crew operates? Depending on the event, there are up to eight men or women in a very narrow and light boat who have to work together perfectly in order to get the boat through the water as fast possible. Their oars have to hit the water at the exact same time, drive through the water with equal force, and recover and repeat the evolution consistently hundreds of times during the length of the race.
That crew can have a liberal, a conservative, a Green, a Socialist, a Tea Party member, two moderates, and an anarchist on it, and they may get into titanic political arguments, but for the singular purpose of getting that boat from Washington's Landing 3.5 miles down the Allegheny River to the Point faster than the other teams they are racing, that crew has to put their differences aside and depend on each other to achieve the ultimate goal. For that moment, they do not care about how best to fix the economy or whether our foreign policy is alienating us in the eyes of our allies and enemies. They are focused on that common goal. They don't care who gets the glory as long as they all can share in it.

The people who are digging out of the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy are of all different races, creeds, orientations and otherwise, but when that storm hit, all that went out of the window, and they were reduced to one common identity. Humans in general, and Americans in particular. And Americans love to pride themselves on helping out their own. The storm doesn't give two shits that you're a Green, or a Tea Party conservative, it'll blow your house over just as quickly as it would someone who's the exact opposite of you. And facing that, if you see your neighbor is in need, are you going to vet their worthiness for help based on your political or philosophical ideology? If you do, I wouldn't want to live next to you.
It's about teamwork. That is how it should be for all of us. I don't give a damn who gets the credit as long as we all can put our differences aside and tackle the problem together. Why does it have to require that humans face the possibility of sudden and violent death and the loss of our 'stuff', before they get their heads out of their collective asses, and get over themselves and their petty differences?
While we're listening to and agreeing with the pundits that tell us what we want to hear and demonize those whose only crime is that they aren't a True Believer, our country is slowing devolving into tribes where we segregate ourselves into our own little ghettos, gated and otherwise, and are happy to surround ourselves with those who think as we do. That's not the America that I took an oath to protect and serve. I'm not saying that people shouldn't have their own opinions about how to deal with the problems that the US faces. That's to deny human nature.
When I saw 'United we stand, Divided we fall', I'm not saying that we all have to march in lockstep. What I'm saying is that we have to pursue those things that unite us. The desire to live as you want as long as you're not harming others. To be able to provide for yourself and your family. To pass on positive values to your children. To respectfully disagree with those who share different ideologies than you. Those are things that we all have in common. We have different ideas about how to achieve them, and it's not easy. But nothing worth having ever is. But it can be done.

Monday, November 05, 2012

The Perry Commodores hoisted their 17th
City Championship title last Saturday at the George beating
University Prep 9-6 in overtime. The One Stars owe their
championship to an unlikely source.

Cornelio Coates had only been the
Perry kicker for one week. He normally plays wide receiver. His
coaches noticed that he had played soccer since he was five years
old, and asked him to be the kicker.

This was his second year playing
football, and get this, he doesn't attend Perry Traditional Academy.
He attends CAPA High School Downtown and is taking courses in
percussion instruments. Of course, CAPA has no football team, so
their students can play for any City high school that has one. He
chose Perry. It was Coates 27 yard field goal in overtime that
lifted the Commodores to their second City title in three years, and
ninth since 1997.

Now, as the Advocate once said, the
fact that Perry won the game on a field goal is highly unusual.
According to PG high school editor Mike White's article on the game,
Field goals are rare in the City League. Only 4 have been attempted
this season by all six City schools. Perry hadn't made a field goal
since 2009, and only has completed 10 in the last 12 seasons. The
Advocate can attest to this because in all the years he's been
watching City League football, he has only seen a handful of field
goals attempted and even fewer made.

Perry and U-Prep remained scoreless
until the third quarter. Perry's Robert Willie broke the ice with a
9 yd scamper into the end zone to put the Commodores up 6-0. U-Prep
got on the board at the 7:54 mark of the fourth quarter with a 4 yd
touchdown run by Ryan Daniels. The Wildcats attempted a trick play
off the extra point when the kicker took a direct snap and attempted
to throw it for the two-point conversion, but the pass was
intercepted. Perry was helped by 14 U-Prep penalties. The Wildcats
were penalized for a whopping 136 yds. Both teams amassed 20
penalties before the day was done.

Perry's defense held the U-Prep
running attack to minus 8 yards, and despite U-Prep's all-everything
quarterback Akil Young going 12 for 32 for 191 of passing yds, he
threw three picks.

In the overtime period, U-Prep got
the ball first and went three- and-out. Perry took over and Coates
kicked the field goal on 4th and goal to win the game.

Both Perry and U-Prep will
represent the City League in the PIAA tournament. Perry has a bye
this weekend and will play Erie McDowell in the AAAA playoffs on
November 16th. U-Prep will enter the AAA playoffs and
play Somerset this weekend on the 9th. The winner of that
game to play the winner of the Punxsutawny-Clearfield game.

Thursday, October 25, 2012

The tickets have been mailed out.
The tuxes have been rented, and the party dresses are arriving as the
Advocate pens this Preview. The City League playoff matchups have
been set.

In the 'Someone Has To Go Winless'
game, Westinghouse, the smallest school in the City shuts out its
much bigger opponent, the Carrick Raiders 18-0 to finish the season
1-4 in the league and 1-7 overall. Carrick falls to an o-fer the
season.

Allderdice's Cornelius Ray
provided the only scoring for the Dragons picking up a 36 yd punt
return for a touchdown, but the Allderdice offense was completely
shut down as Brashear rattled off 21 unanswered points via runs by
Russell Page and Diondre Harris, and a 56 yd pick-six by Jamal Smith
to pick up the 21-7 win, and the third seed in the playoffs. The
Bulls will take on a University Prep team that laid their beloved
teammate Ne'Ondre Harbour to rest earlier this week. This after the
Panthers lost to Perry in a tight, emotionally charged game 12-6.
The One Stars jumped out to a 12-0 lead off 69 and 8yd runs by Ahmed
Turner. And U-Prep was able to pick up a score in the 2nd
quarter when QB Akil Young threw a 24 yd pass to Marcus Johnson for a
touchdown, but neither team scored in the second half.

With the win, Perry takes the
regular season City League title and will face a fading Allderdice
squad that has lost three of its last four games, and lost all its
games against playoff contenders in the Friday night semifinal.
Perry is on a three game winning streak and while the Commodores
don't have the most prolific offense, that honor goes to U-Prep, they
do have the stingiest defense in the league giving up only 26 points
against City League opponents.

Thursday October 25

7:00pm

University Prep vs Brashear

The
Advocate has to believe that U-Prep was still in mourning over their
loss of a prominent member of their team, and that had to affect
their performance against Perry last Friday night. It would be easy
for the Advocate or any other so-called pundit to say that it was the
coaches' responsibility to get the team past that terrible
circumstance and to put their warrior face and mourn over your fallen
comrade later, and all that. But these are high school kids, not
professionals. As the Advocate said in his preview, anything could
affect their play, especially the untimely death of a teammate. And
the loss to Perry didn't affect their eligibility for the playoffs.
In fact, one could say that last week's game was a dress rehearsal
for the Championship game next Saturday. But now that the Panthers
have laid their teammate to rest, and have dedicated the rest of the
season to him, however long it lasts, they can best honor Mr. Harbour
by taking care of business tonight against the Bulls, and getting
back to the title game. The Panthers beat Brashear 40-12 in Week 4,
and the Advocate doesn't see the Bulls winning this game either.
U-Prep

Friday
October 26

7:00pm

Allderdice vs Perry

This
was supposed to be the 'Dice's year. They had a big bruising running
back, they had plenty of seniors coming back from a team that lost to
U-Prep in the City Championship game last year. But their lack of a
passing game was a contributing factor to their disappointing season.
Perry only beat Allderdice 12-0 in the regular season back in week
Three, and there may be a slight chance that the Dragons can make a
second straight appearance in the championship. After all, they held
an undefeated Brashear squad to a mere safety in a 6-2 win in the
semifinals last year. But Perry is on a roll. They haven't
been in the championship game since 2010, they consider it their
birthright. The Advocate makes it a U-Prep vs Perry match up for the
hardware next Saturday. Perry

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

The final week of the regular
season begins on Thursday night under a dark cloud. Days before the
biggest game of the year for the University Prep Wildcats, one of
their best players, junior offensive and defensive tackle, Ne'Ondre
Harbour was shot and killed in Garfield on last Sunday night. He was
standing on the porch of a house on North Aiken Ave with a group of
people, just minding his business when a man walked up to the house
and started firing.

The emphasis of this last
statement is that Mr. Harbour was just minding his business.
He was not doing anything that warranted being shot. He was an
innocent bystander who was in the wrong place at the wrong time. He
was described as a good kid who was all about school and playing
football. He wasn't running the streets, or selling drugs or
'cutting up' as the term was used back in the Advocate's day. He was
a victim of a shooting that savagely took away his future, and
devastated a family, a community, and a football team. The Advocate
prays for the soul of Mr. Harbour as well as for his family, friends,
and the University Prep community.

The
Advocate is not one who gets into politics very often, and while he
supports the Second Amendment, giving law-abiding
citizens the right to keep and bear arms, he also believes that there
are just too damn many guns out on the streets and in the wrong
hands. Something has to be done about the senseless gun violence that
is robbing our youth of their innocence and their lives. A kid with
a bright future like Mr. Harbour should be allowed to see that future
without fear of it being snatched away by a coward's bullet.

But
what about Mr. Harbour's teammates? They will be going into their
final game of the regular season against Perry on Friday night
without one of their standout players, and locker room leader. How
will they respond to this tragedy? As of today, the Advocate has
heard nothing about the game being postponed. This game will decide
the regular season title as well as the number one seed for the
playoffs.

U-Prep
shut out winless Westinghouse 45-0 to keep their league record a
perfect 4-0. Myles Caitlin led the Wildcats with three touchdown and
Akil Young passed for 150 yds.

Their
undefeated opponent on Friday night, Perry also won their week 7 game
beating Brashear 24-6. Curtis Edmonds recovered a fumble return and
ran 18 yds for touchdowns and Ahmad Turner and Robert Willie added
scores of their own on the ground to seal the win for the Commodores.

Allderdice
rode to victory over Carrick 32-14 on the back of Patrick Ferguson
who rushed for 104 yards and two touchdowns. They will end the
regular season against Brashear on Friday afternoon. The winner of
this game will clinch third place and will play the loser of the
Perry vs U-Prep game in a semifinal game either next Thursday or
Friday night.

Thursday
October 18

7:00pm

Carrick vs Westinghouse

The
one consolation of this game is that one of these teams will not end
the season winless, of course that also means that one of these
teams will end the
season winless. This game could go either way. But because the
Advocate lives in Homewood, he has to go with the Bulldogs.
Westinghouse

Friday
October 19

3:30pm

Allderdice vs Brashear

The
'Dice has had a disappointing 2012 season. Picked by the pundits as
well as Your City League Advocate as the favorites to grab their
first City League title since 1967, the Dragons had the running game,
but couldn't get their passing game going in the games that counted.
This is their last chance to determine their own fate for the
upcoming playoffs. Last year, Allderdice played an undefeated
Brashear Bulls squad in the semifinals and eked out a 6-2 win to go
up against U-Prep for the hardware. As QB Bishop Gethers and RB
Patrick Ferguson are part of a 21 member senior class that will
graduate in June, this may be the 'Dice's last chance to be a playoff
contender for at least a year. If they win, they'll seal up third
place, which will provide only a slightly easier path to the
championship. Brashear has only 10 seniors leaving, and a bunch of
sophomores coming back, so they will be a much better team next year.
The Advocate thinks that the Dragons have just enough to pull out
this win.

Allderdice

7:00pm

University Prep vs Perry

If
this were just another final week of the regular season, with a
regular season title and top seed on the line, U-Prep wouldn't need
any motivation to come out strong against Perry. U-Prep has the No.1
offense and defense in the City League outscoring their opponents by
an average of 39-15. They have a golden opportunity to win a second
straight City League title. But this isn't just another final week.

The
events of last Sunday night will definitely weigh heavily on these young
men's minds. These are high school kids, just about anything can
affect their play, from breaking up with their girlfriend, to passing
or flunking a crucial exam. But the tragic shooting death of a
teammate, especially one who was as instrumental to the teams'
success as a Ne'Ondre Harbour adds a different level of emotions to
the mix. The coaches have to keep these kids focused on the task at
hand, which is facing a very tough Perry squad, but they can't come
across as heartless and cold to their players feelings about their
loss.

The
Advocate would think that Mr. Harbour would want his teammates to
play as they have all season, with their eyes firmly planted on the
goal. And one must remember, these are City League kids. They've
seen and experienced things that their suburban cousins could never
comprehend. Many of them come from broken homes, tragic family
situations and have encountered violence that forces them to grow up
a lot faster than they want to. They are survivors. But the question
is how will they survive. Will they end up on the streets facing a
dead end future, or will they go on to higher education, and work
towards becoming a success for future generations to emulate? That
is the job of the adults in their lives. The coaches, teachers,
counselors and parents.

The
Advocate believes that U-Prep, even without this tragedy befalling
them is the better team. And he also believes that they will honor
the wishes of their teammate, and play in his honor and prevail.

Thursday, October 11, 2012

Well, campers. We have reached the
penultimate week of the regular season in the City League...

(Wait, Mr. Advocate.
Pen-all-tea-mint? What does that word mean?)

If you keep your shorts on for a
minute, Junior, I'll tell you. Now before I was interrupted, We have
reached the penultimate week of the regular season, and the playoff
situation is starting to become more solid.

Now, Bunkie, turn off that Justin
Bieber crap you have plugged into your ears, and listen up. I'm only
going to say this once. And after I'm done, go and find yourself
some real music. That auto-tuned canned crap will rot your brain.

Penultimate is one of those words
that educated people like Your City League Advocate use to describe
the next to last of something. In the sentence that I just stated,
the penultimate week of the season is the next to last week of the
season. Got that?

Now that you're armed with at
least one new word this week, you can go down to your local watering
hole and impress the locals with the limitless expanse of your
vocabulary, win a bunch of bar bets against the other losers you hang
around with, and maybe impress that dishwater blond drinking Southern Comfort
at the end of the bar with the hoop earrings big enough for a poodle to jump through, the Nicki Minaj baby tee and
tramp stamp enough that she may actually give you the time of day.

Never let it be said that Your City
League Advocate is not a charitable sort. He has provided you with a
nugget of wisdom that you didn't have before, and now your life as
been enriched by a factor of at least ten-thousand because of the
Advocate's act of generosity. You're welcome. Now go away.

(Yes, Mr. Advocate. Thank you for
your act of kindness, you are so good to us poor imbeciles, who sit
at your feet catching the precious drops of knowledge that dribble forth from your mouth.)

Whatever. Now back to what I was
saying. The four teams going into the playoffs are all but set, the
only thing to determine will be who's playing who in two weeks.

The Standings

University Prep 3-0

Perry 3-0

Brashear 2-1

Allderdice 1-2

Carrick 0-3

Westinghouse 0-3

The Allderdice Dragons jumped out
to a 15-0 lead against University Prep off a 51 yd blocked punt
return by Marquis Martin and an 11yd run by Patrick Ferguson. Sadly,
that was all the points the 'Dice could score as the
Panthers/Wildcats responded by running off 35 unanswered points to
crush the Dragons 35-15. U-Prep QB Akil Young passed for 266 yards
and blistered the Allderdice secondary with three touchdown passes.
Ryan Daniels scored off two running plays to lift the 'Cats to an
undefeated 3-0 and first place in the City.

The Dragons face Carrick on Friday
night. If they can beat the Raiders, they lock up at least the fourth
place seed, and may have a shot at third place if Perry beats
Brashear tonight to set up the 'Dice's last game in the regular
season against the Bulls in the matinee on Friday the 19th.

Brashear kept its hold on third
place by crushing their South Hills neighbors, Carrick 35-6. All
DaBulls points came on the ground as Diondre Farris scored twice and
Deshawn Roberts three times.

The other team at the top of the
table, Perry, beat Westinghouse 43-2 to keep pace with U-Prep at 3-0.
Assuming that both Perry and U-Prep win this weeks games against
Brashear and Westinghouse, respectively, The One Stars and the 'Cats
will tie up on the 19th under the lights. for sole
possession of first place and the regular season title.

Thursday October
11 7:00pm

Perry vs. Brashear

If there's one
thing for certain, when Perry and Brashear hook up, there will be
fireworks. The Commodores and the Bulls have faced each other
multiple times with hardware on the line. And they do not like each
other. Despite losing a lot of players from last seasons undefeated
team, and picking up transfers from Langley when it closed, Brashear
has had a decent season. They went 0-3 against non D8 competition,
but they managed to win the two easy games on their City schedule
against Carrick and the House. They can't get first place due to
their loss to U-Prep which kills their head -to-head. But a win
against Perry can give this young squad plenty of motivation to go
into their final tussle against the Dragons. But the Advocate thinks
that Perry is the stronger team in this matchup. Perry

Friday October 12
3:30pm

U-Prep vs Westinghouse

The biggest
challenge that U-Prep will have in this game is keeping themselves
motivated enough to play a disciplined, penalty-free game against the
Bulldogs. The bench should see plenty of action in this one. The
starters will get enough work to tune up for the big test next week,
but not so much as to risk a serious injury. U-Prep

7:00pm

Allderdice vs
Carrick

It's too bad that
the City League does not practice flex-time scheduling. If the
Advocate ran the league, he'd put this game on Thursday night and
have Perry and Brashear play on Friday night. Friday night should be
reserved for the best matchup of the week, not a yawner like this
one. It's not like City League teams aren't used to having different
amounts of time to prepare from week to week. The League's been
doing this for better than 20 years. Allderdice should be able to
win this game with no problem. They'll face the same issues that
U-Prep will have against the 'House. Namely, giving their starters
enough reps to keep them fresh, while getting the bench players
quality time. Allderdice

Thursday, October 04, 2012

By 9:30pm last Saturday night, the five
City League schools who played over the weekend, were questioning
witnesses as to whether anyone had gotten the license plates of the
trucks that mowed them down. Non-conference opponents committed
multiple hit and run offenses against the Advocate's teams to the
tune of a 192-55 display of utter smackage. The only team to escape
the beatdown was University Prep and that was only because their game
against Gilmour Academy was canceled.

The only game that could be deemed
as competitive was the Brashear-Erie Strong Vincent game on Thursday
night in which the Colonels were able to eke out a last minute score
to win 21-14. Beyond that and Allderdice's 35-20 loss to Wheeling
Central where Patrick Ferguson rushed for 155 yds and 2 touchdowns,
the rest of the league was folded, spindled and mutilated at the
hands of opponents from West-By-Gawd Virginia, Ohio, Maryland, and
Virginia.

Perry scored on its opening drive
on a 73 yd TD pass from Ahmad Turner to Mallory Claybourne, but
Liberty Christian of Virginia rebounded by scoring 49 unanswered
points to embarrass the Commodores on the SahSide 49-7. Ft. Hill
(MD) scored on all eight of its possessions in their win over Carrick
54-8, and Westinghouse got their only score off a blocked field goal
attempt and Iziaiah Spearman pounced on the ball and scampered 89 yds
for the touchdown, but could do no more against the Big Red of
Steubenville, OH. All told, the City League went 2-14 against
non-league competition this season.

But the good news is, that last
weekend signaled the end of non-league play for the City, and with no
more need to travel all over God's creation to act as other team's
tacking dummies, the school's of the City League can now concentrate
on the most important three weeks of the season, where playoff seeds
will be determined.

The Standings.

U-Prep 2-0

Perry 2-0

Allderdice 1-1

Brashear 1-1

Carrick 0-2

Westinghouse 0-3

The marquee matchup for this
weekend will happen on Friday night at 7:00pm when the U-Prep
Wildcats/Panthers take on the Allderdice Dragons. The last time these
two teams met was in the City Championship game almost a year ago,
when U-Prep took advantage of an ineffective 'Dice offense to claim
their first ever City Title 14-0. Akil Young has emerged as the main
offensive weapon for the 'Cats, throwing the ball over 400 yards and
scoring 6 touchdowns in U-Prep's 3 games so far. He's completed 35
of 50 passes this season, and this in a league where running the ball
is still considered the majority of City team's offenses.

Allderdice will counter with
Patrick Ferguson who stands 6 ft tall and weighs a Jerome Bettis-like
260 lbs. Ferguson has rushed for 535 yds off 89 carries and 6
touchdowns this season. But for the 'Dice to be successful, they'll
need a good performance by QB Bishop Gethers. And as the Advocate has
repeatedly said over the years, Allderdice has never been a school
that has produced good quarterbacks. But they will need Gethers to
shine if they want to win this game. A win will put Allderdice in a
tie with U-Prep and give the Dragons the all-important head to head
tiebreaker.

The rest of the week in the City
will have Perry taking on winless Westinghouse tonight at 7:00pm, and
Brashear going against their South Hills neighbor Carrick in the
Friday matinee. But the Advocate's Game of the Week is the new
Battle of the East End featuring Allderdice and U-Prep.

Unless the Mayans had it all wrong
and the end of the world was to happen between the time the Advocate
is writing this and 7:00pm tonight, It's safe to say that Brashear
and Perry should have no problems handling their business against
Carrick and the 'House. But the U-Prep-'Dice game could go either
way. Ferguson is a legit scoring threat for the Dragons, but he
can't do it all. And while Bishop Gethers is getting looks from
colleges, it isn't because of his skills as a QB, but rather as a DB.
He needs to come up big under center if the Dragons are to win this
game. U-Prep has lost a lot from that championship team, but they
still have a lot to play with, and Young looks like the real deal in
the City League this season. As much as the Advocate wants to see
his Dragons win this game, he isn't sold on Gether's ability to keep
U-Prep's defense honest. So with a heavy heart, he has to predict
that U-Prep will win on Friday night.

Thursday, September 27, 2012

It's almost hard to believe that we
have reached the halfway point of the football season in the City
League. Just seems like yesterday when the teams that make up Your
City League Advocate's favorite little football league were getting
on buses and traveling hither and yon to play games against teams
from West-By-Gawd-Virginia, Ohio and elsewhere.

And this week, the League goes off
the reservation for the final time this season to play a slate of
non-district games before starting the manic three week playoff run
next Thursday.

The Standings

University Prep 2-0

Perry 2-0

Brashear 1-1

Allderdice 1-1

Carrick 0-2

Westinghouse 0-2

University Prep's Akil Young is
starting to look the quarterback to watch in the City League this
season. Young went 23 of 32 for 280 yards in a 40-12 win over the
Brashear Bulls. He threw two touchdown passes to Marcus Johnson of 3
and 17 yards, respectively, and 1 TD pass of 39 yards to Clay
Moorefield. Moorefield also scored on runs of 4 and 48 yards.
Brashear scored off a 58 yard pass from Russell Page to Adam Tajuddin
and a 48 yard toss to Jamal Smith. The loss drops the Bulls into a
tie for second with Allderdice at 1-1.

Originally U-Prep was scheduled
to travel to Gilmour Academy in Ohio this weekend, but according to
the PG website, that game was called off. In fact, the Advocate
checked Gilmour Academy's website, and confirmed that on the 29th,
they were not playing U-Prep. So it looks like the Panthers will be
getting this weekend off.

Brashear, on the other hand won't
have to travel any further than down McArdle St from Brookline to the
SahSide to take on Erie Strong Vincent. The Colonels come into this
game 1-3, and judging by the rain that is falling outside the
Advocate's palatial estate, it looks like it's gonna be a wet
miserable evening at the George.

Allderdice managed to even its
record at 1-1 with a much needed 32-6 win over Westinghouse. The
Dragons' QB/DB Bishop Gethers helped the 'Dice's cause on both sides
of the ball snatching up a fumble and returning 39 yds for a
touchdown. He also tossed and ran for a score, while stud RB Patrick
Ferguson ran for two touchdowns and 118 yds in the easy win. The
Dragons head down to Wheeling to take on 3-2 Wheeling Central on
Saturday night.

The loss drops Westinghouse into a
tie for last with Carrick at 0-4, and an article
by Trib HS beat writer Kevin Gorman explains the Bulldogs' plight.

For those who don't know,
Westinghouse is by far the smallest school in the City League with
only 185 boys in grades 9-11, and they have to routinely play against
schools in and out of the City with enrollments three and four times
their own. The team they play this weekend, Steubenville High School
in Ohio has 260 boys in grades 9-11, and Allderdice, the largest high
school in terms of enrollment in the City has over 600 boys in those
grades. The 'Dawgs haven't won a City title since 1996, and coach
Monte Robinson feels that if the 'House were to move to the WPIAL,
they could compete against schools their size. The Advocate would
agree. They may not win a lot of games, but at least they'd be able
to compete on a more equitable playing field than they face in the
City League.

Perry moved into a first place tie
with U-Prep at 2-0 with a 47-12 drubbing of the Carrick Raiders.

Tomorrow evening, at 7:00, the
Commodores will host Liberty Christian of Virginia in the Bulldogs
first visit to Pittsburgh. Liberty Christian brings a 4-1 record
into the George, and they have an impressive resume. Since 2004,
they have won 4 Virginia Division 1 state titles, were runners-up in
2009, and made it to the state semi-finals in 2006, 2008, and 2010.
Clearly, the Commodores will have their work cut out against this
team.

Carrick will head down to Fort
Hill, Maryland to face the Sentinels, who have torched City League
teams the past two years. The Sentinels are 2-2 coming into the game
against the Raiders and looking at their results, it's been either
feast or famine for Fort Hill. They won their first and third games
at home by 45 and 64 points respectively, but on the road, it's a
different story as they've been crushed by 29 and 38 points,
respectively.

A look down the road, once the City
League returns to District 8 play: Allderdice will have U-Prep,
Carrick and Brashear in their final three games; Brashear has
Carrick, Perry, and Allderdice; U-Prep has the 'Dice, Westinghouse,
and a regular season finale against Perry that could decide the
regular season title as well as the No.1 seed in the playoffs. And
finally, Perry will have the 'House, Brashear, and U-Prep. It's safe
to say that unless either Carrick or Westinghouse can pull of a major
upset or two, the playoffs should consist of U-Prep, Brashear, Perry
and Allderdice. The question is, in which order. But that's why
they play the games.

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

The first week of league play in the
City League is in the books and Your City League Advocate is 3-0. He
correctly predicted all three of last weeks games, and has stumped
all the so-called pundits in the fishwrap media who thought that
Allderdice would best Perry in last weeks feature matchup.

The Standings

U-Prep, Perry, and Brashear are 1-0,
Allderdice, Carrick, and Westinghouse are 0-1 in league play.

In that game, The Dragons and the
Commodores spent most of the first half shooting themselves in the
foot and not doing a very good job of that. Both teams accounted for six lost fumbles,
and entered each others red zone multiple times only to come away
with nothing due to turnovers, penalties or neither team being able
to get out from under its own shadow. The first half ended in a
scoreless tie. Allderdice had the ball for five possessions in the
first half, lost three fumbles, had a kick blocked and lost 9 yds on
a bad snap on a punt. That, boys and girls, is not good, definitely
not the kind of play that is indicative of a team that was touted to
win their first City title since 1967.

With ten minutes left in the third
quarter, Perry broke the ice with a DaRon Clark pass into traffic
that bounced off two Allderdice defenders before landing into the
arms of Juyuan Byrd. Clark was substituting for starter Ahmad
Turner who left the game with an unnamed injury. The game remained
6-0 until Clark scored on a 4 yd run with 4:58 remaining in the game
to seal the victory for the Commodores. Star running back Patrick
Ferguson was removed from the game with a hip injury. As he is
responsible for most of the 'Dice's offense, the Advocate hopes that
the injury is a minor one and that he'll be back in action this week.

Although, with the schedule that
awaits the Green Hats the next two weeks, it may be wise to sit the
young man out. Allderdice plays winless Westinghouse on Friday
afternoon, and heads back down to West By-Gawd Virginia to play their
final non-league game of the season against Wheeling Central Catholic
on the 29th.

Brashear defeated Westinghouse
last Thursday night 30-7. DaShaun Roberts caught a 17yd pass for a
touchdown and recovered a fumble and ran 11 yds for another to pace
DaBulls. But what really caused the Advocates head to explode was
that The Bulls Aaron Lagnese converted three extra points and made
field goals 30, 35, and 37 yds. Now, can anyone who has followed the
City League for any length of time, tell the Advocate what is so
significant about this feat? He's waiting...Give up?

Simple, boys and girls. The
average City League kicker can barely make one field goal much less
three. And they definitely won't even try a field goal of longer
than 30 yds. And most City League teams don't even bother kicking
for the extra point, they'd rather go for two. And have you ever
seen City League teams perform or cover a kickoff? Let's just say
it's not the highest priority on the coach's practice schedule. The
average City kickoff goes 50 feet in the air and 20 yards forward, or
skitters along the ground like a scalded rabbit.

AAAnyway, with that win, Brashear
notches one in the win column. The next opponent for the Bulls are
the University Prep Panthers who destroyed the Carrick Raiders 56-0.
Seven different players scored for U-Prep in their victory. 21
points scored off fumble recoveries alone. Akil Young threw for
three touchdowns. And will someone please tell Mike White and his
minions down at the PG to update their standings and schedule page?
They have yet to acknowledge that U-Prep did actually play a game
back in Week 2. If you remember, guys, U-Prep went up to Aquinas
Institute in Rochester, NY and lost 49-20 two weeks ago. It's a sad
state of affairs when a hack like Your City League Advocate manages
to get the story more accurately than the 'pros' of the PG.

Thursday September 20 7:00pm

Perry
vs Carrick.

Really?
Perry.

Friday September 21 3:30pm

Allderdice
vs Westinghouse

The
Advocate doesn't know the status of Patrick Ferguson for this game.
There was no indication of the seriousness of the hip injury he
suffered against Perry. The Dragons should be able to muster enough
offense to defeat the Bulldogs. While a loss here definitely does not
hurt the 'Dice's shot at a playoff spot, they need to right the ship
now. After their game at Wheeling, they resume their City Schedule
with games against U-Prep, Carrick and Brashear in that order. Going
0-2 in City play against that lineup is not a good thing. Allderdice

7:30pm

Brashear
vs University Prep

This
is the Advocate's Game of the Week. The Advocate believes that
U-Prep, while it has lost some key contributors from last season's
incredible championship team, still has enough to beat a Brashear
Bulls squad that is also very young. Both teams opened against weak
opponents. This will be their first big test of the City League
season. U-Prep

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

After traveling the length and
breadth of the Tri-State area along its many highways and by-ways,
and playing non-league games in the hinterlands and among the
hedgerows, the teams of the Pittsburgh City League have finally come
home to the friendly confines of George K. Cupples Stadium on the
Sah'Side to commence the all important league play. After being the
designated cupcakes playing in front of one-sided crowds in
unfamiliar settings and coming away more often than nothing more than
a loss for their troubles, now the remaining six City can spend the
next two weeks scratching and clawing for those all-important wins
within the League that will determine this season's playoff seeds.

Playoffs? Playoffs? Dear
Advocate, surely you must have started celebrating your reaching the
half century mark a mite early. This is only week 3. Isn't it a
touch premature to start thinking about the playoffs? No,Bunkie, it
is not. There are only five games on the league schedule. Even a
game against a bottom dweller like a Carrick or a Westinghouse can
spell the difference between making the playoffs and being on the
outside looking in. There are no easy games in this miniaturized
version of the City League. Every game counts, and even a Carrick or
a Westinghouse can play the spoiler.

Your City League Advocate was listening to the podcast about
high school football hosted by Mike White and Terry Shields, and a
surprising amount of the show was dedicated to the City League, which
those who are familiar with this podcast know, that the City can go
weeks on end without even the slightest acknowledgment. Not only did
Messrs. White and Shields open the podcast with the upcoming game
between Allderdice and Perry as one of their feature matchups, they
also posed the question of the City joining the WPIAL in football,
which is starting to gain some traction amongst the aficionados of
the high

school game played in this area.

The two hosts agreed that the
first possibility of a merger would occur with the next enrollment
cycle in two years time, but they also opined that before the City
would pursue a merger, two things should happen.

One, the City should spend more
money on enlarging coaching staffs. Which, while it would be nice to
have the massive staffs that the leading Quad A WPIAL schools have,
the chances of that happening are slim and none, given the financial
crisis the Pittsburgh Public Schools find themselves in. The other,
would be if one or more of the schools would form a co-op in order to
better compete with the big boys of the WPIAL.

Now, this got the Advocate's mind
to thinking, which depending on the subject matter being perused, can
be a very scary and somewhat dangerous situation. The Advocate knows
that the PIAA allows schools who have difficulty putting together
sports teams due to low enrollment, to form a co-op arrangement
whereby two or more schools can pool their talent together to form a
team that will play under a common banner.

After all, the City League already
has such a creation. University Prep is a three-headed hydra
consisting of players from Obama Academy, University Prep High
School, and Pittsburgh Science and Technology Academy, plus a few
players from various charter schools, who come together and play
under the U-Prep name and colors.

But the Advocate isn't sure that
the PIAA would allow the other schools in the City League to enter
into co-ops for the sole purpose of making a team that could compete
at the highest levels of the WPIAL.

Allderdice, Perry, Carrick,
Brashear, and Westinghouse have no problem getting enough players
together to form football teams. They may not be very good football
teams, but with the exception of a Westinghouse, they don't have
small enough talent pools that would require a co-op arrangement.

But put aside the PIAA's rules for
a second. Suppose that a co-op could be legal in order to make a
team that could compete in the WPIAL from the get-go. What schools
could be involved? U-Prep would not be able to enter into a co-op
because they already are one. But for sheer competitiveness,
geography and logistics be damned, a three school co-op consisting
of Allderdice, Perry and Brashear would stand the best chance of at
least being respectable in the Quad A right out of the gate. They
may even be able to dig up enough wins to grab a lower seed in the
playoffs.

If only two schools could make up
the co-op, a combination of any two of the schools mentioned above
could also make some noise. Numbers wouldn't be an issue, any two
the schools mentioned can bring out 60-80 players for football. And
even a two school co-op would be better able to compete right away,
and by compete, the Advocate is saying, win two or three games in
the conference in their first season of the WPIAL, and make the
playoffs in their first five years.

The City went 2-4 in this latest
round of non-league games last weekend. Allderdice became the first
City team in three years to notch a win against Linsly School out of
West By-Gawd Virginia, defeating the Cadets 24-6. The Dragons rode
to victory of the back of a 243 yd rushing performance by senior
tailback Patrick Ferguson, who scored two touchdowns. Quarterback
Bishop Gethers tossed a 29 yard TD pass to Jaylen Wilkins to round
out the scoring. The Advocate is wondering whether this was just a
down Linsly squad or were the Dragons that good. This was a Linsly
team that hung 44 on the 'Dice last season.

The Dragons opponent this Friday
night was also a victor. The Perry Commodores traveled to Bangor, PA
to take on St. Pius X and the One Stars emerged the winner by a count
of 32-13. Perry opened the scoring with 9 yd pass from Ahmad Turner
to Quentin Carter. Pius responded with 13 point s of a 31 yd TD pass
and a 65 yd pick six. But Commodores shook off the setback and
scored four more times off rushes of 49,19,1, and 60 yds
respectively.

Westinghouse slipped to 0-2 on
the season with a 37-22 loss to Wheeling Central Catholic. The
Maroon Kinghts opened up to a 37-0 lead off of five runs and a 27 yd
field goal. The Bulldogs scored all their points in the 4th
quarter.

The Big Bads open City League
play against Brashear who also headed down to Wheeling, but they
played Wheeling Park and lost to the tune of 41-14. No summary of the
scoring was available.

Carrick lost to Chestnut Ridge
35-12, and U-Prep was beaten by Aquinas Institute in Rochester,NY
49-20.

Thursday Sept 13, 7pm

Brashear vs Westinghouse

DaBulls
and the Bulldogs open up league play both sporting 0-2 records. Both
teams are very young. Brashear picked up a bunch of Langley's
players when that school closed. Westinghouse didn't benefit from
either Langley or Oliver's demise. The 'House will be battling its
usual demons: Low numbers to start with, and attrition due to grades
or players quitting as the season goes along, although if they can
get a win or two and make some noise for the playoffs, they may be
able to keep the kids motivated enough to stick around. But while the
Advocate's heart is for the 'Dawgs, his head has to pull for the
Bulls. Brashear

Friday
Sept 14, 3:30pm

Carrick vs U-Prep

The
Panthers didn't play a game on opening weekend, which should insure
that they aren't as dinged up. They suffered a 29 point loss to a
very good Aquinas Institute team in New York. While U-Prep isn't as
strong as they were last year, they are still expected to make the
playoffs. U-Prep

Friday
Sept 14, 7:00pm

Allderdice vs Perry

It's
not often that Mike White's high school football podcast leads off
with a City League game as one of his featured matchups. And what a
matchup to open City play with. The Dragons have a stud tailback in
Patrick Ferguson. Perry counters with a respectable running back of
their own in Curtis Edmonds. But Perry has a better passing game.
The 'Dice's secondary will get a workout. Allderdice will have to
dig up a passing game from somewhere. The Advocate loves his
Dragons, but he's not sure if they are worth the No.1 ranking that
the PG has bestowed upon them. He's picking the Commodores in a
tight one. Perry

Wednesday, September 05, 2012

Now, Your City League Advocate is one
who tolerates a lot of things. As he is fast approaching the big 5-0
in a few short days, The Advocate has to take it easy when rendering
his admittedly flawed opinion on most subjects of the day, hence he
spikes his already high blood pressure.

And considering that the annual
festival of wanton excess, unhealthy living, and general naughtiness
that is the annual Birthday Bacchanal and Clam Bake is coming up
soon, the Advocate has to save his limited energy for more important
and engaging pursuits, like judging the myriad of promising entries
in the Most Lethal Concoction Contest, or rounding up willing
contestants and victims...er, uh assistants in the Catch the Virgin
Race, or making sure that the crack security detail consisting of an
unlikely combination of ex-Navy Seals, retired SWAT team operatives,
and members of the local Hell's Honeys motorcycle club can work
together to keep an eye out for the local gendarmes, if and when they
decide to cruise by the undisclosed location.

Not so much to keep the boys in
blue away, but to discreetly inform the Advocate of their arrival so
that he can insure that the requisite donations to the Policeman's
Benevolence Association are made out in the proper amounts and given
to the correct people.

Many of the subjects that the
Advocate opines upon are well beyond his limited knowledge of just
about everything. But like many pundits have proven over the years,
the lack of knowledge about a subject doesn't stop Your City League
Advocate from rendering an opinion about them. As a matter of fact,
The Advocate has learned from his many readers that uninformed
opinions tend to be the most entertaining, and Your City League
Advocate would not be performing his high calling to the best of his
ability if he didn't entertain his followers.

The bone of contention that is
baking Your City League Advocate's biscuits this week has to do with
Thursday night high school football. The Advocate listened to a
podcast recently hosted by two of the local high school football
pundits that ply their trade for the local fishwrap. The Pittsburgh
Post-Gazette. These two gentlemen, Mike White and Terry Shields,
host a weekly podcast where they talk about the high school football
scene and break down the upcoming big games in the WPIAL and City
League.

All in all, they do a very good
job. In the latest edition of the podcast, Mr. White and Mr. Shields
tell their audience about the deal between Root Sports (formerly Fox
Sports Pittsburgh) and the WPIAL to televise certain high profile
games on Thursday nights. Which the Advocate has no problem with.

But what frosts the Advocate's
wedding cake is the implied suggestion that somehow, playing football
on Thursday nights is something that is exclusive to the WPIAL and
Root Sports and that it has never been done before, and/or isn't done
anywhere else. And this further perpetuates the belief that if the
WPIAL doesn't do it, or hadn't thought of it, then it doesn't exist,
or isn't worth doing.

To which, the Advocate has to
raise his hackles and protest most strenuously, that the City League
has been playing football on Thursday nights for over 20 years.
Every since the Pittsburgh Public Schools decided rightly or wrongly
to move all football games to Cupples Stadium back in the late 80's,
football has been played on Thursday nights.

Now the Advocate will concede the
point that the City League plays on Thursday nights out of necessity,
and the WPIAL/Root Sports co-op does it to showcase matchups that
stand out from the rest of the pack.

And he also concedes that in
most cases, the best City matchups don't always play on Thursday
nights. And that the crowds on Thursday nights at the George won't
come close to the turnouts that come out to see two top WPIAL teams
play.

But for the WPIAL to act as if
they invented Thursday night football is ludicrous. Give credit
where it is due. The City League has been doing Thursday night
football long before the WPIAL even conceived of the idea.

Okay, enough ranting about the
provincialism of the WPIAL. On to the weekend past and weekend
upcoming in Everyone's Favorite Little Football League.

The City League opened their
season last weekend with all but University Prep in action against
schools from outside the area. And as expected, all five teams ended
up losing.

The only City squad that gave a
credible performance was Brashear, who hosted Slippery Rock and hung
tough with the Rockets from Dist 10 until a 1 yard run with 41
seconds left in the game from Slippery Rock's Ryan Currie broke a
26-26 tie and handed them the win. Bulls QB Russell Page went 14-23
for 254 yds and three TD's plus a rushing score. DaBulls next game
is on September 7, when they travel down to West By-Gawd Virginia to
take on Wheeling Park who are 1-1 on the season. The Advocate is
tempted to ask the Brashear coaches to head over to the dog track and
lay a fiver on a dog named Gimpy running in the sixth race. The
Advocate has it on good authority that this pup is a dead cert. The
fact that it only has three legs, is blind in one eye, and will hump
anything in sight apparently has no effect on its performance.

Perry headed up to Veterans
Memorial in Erie, a venue they are more than familiar with to face
the Ramblers of Cathedral Prep, an opponent they are more than
familiar with. And ECP didn't hesitate in letting the Commodores
know how much they missed their rivals from Pittsburgh by handing
them a 56-6 beatdown. Perry's lone score came on a 1 -yard run by
Ahmad Turner. Perry will next take to the road traveling 301 miles
across I-80 to play St. Pius X of Bangor, PA. The Royals were
crushed in their home opener 61-0 to perennial power Southern
Columbia.

The Allderdice Dragons headed down
to Morgantown to play the Mohigans and were outclassed 32-13. Chazzy
Thomas scored three touchdowns for Morgantown and rushed 15 times for
204 yds. The 'Dice's two scores came off an 89 yd kick return by
Antonio Thomas and a 1 yd rushing TD by Matt Yarbough. The Dragons
will come home to host the Linsly Cadets who lost their first game of
the season 33-19, to Parkersburg South. The last time Allderdice and
Linsly tied up, the Cadets whipped the Dragons 41-6 in West VA.

Carrick took on Grove City and was
blanked 40-0. The Eagles rushed for 269 yards and passed for 119,
scoring 5 touchdowns on the ground and one through the air. Next up
for the Raiders, will be an 111 mile trip down I-70 for a road game
against Chestnut Ridge which is a AA school out of New Paris, PA.
The Lions are 0-1, losing 51-20 to Central out of Martinsburg.

The Westinghouse Bulldogs headed
into the Buckeye State to play Buckeye Local and were defeated 24-6.
The Big Bads next game is against Wheeling Central Catholic who is
1-1 after losing their last game to Weirton Madonna.

University Prep finally gets to
start their season after waiting too long to put their schedule
together, and having to scramble to find games at the last minute.
The Wildcats will be heading 288 miles up I-79 and I-90 into
Rochester, NY to take on the Little Irish of Aquinas Institute.
Aquinas is 1-0 on the season winning their opener 44-7 over St.
Francis. Aquinas is listed in the top 5 in New York according to Max
Preps, and finished last season 10-2. One of the marquee games on
their schedule is a game against Erie Prep on Oct 12.

As you can see, City League teams
are traveling far and wide to find quality opponents. This is the
second week in a row that City squads are playing non-conference
opponents, and City League play will start the weekend of the 13th
and 14th. Which incidentally is the weekend of the
Advocate's Birthday Bacchanal and Clambake.

The Advocate wishes that the gurus
who put together the League schedule for the season would have
consulted with him in regards to the logistics and difficulties of
covering the City League whilst also trying desperately to keep the
lid on the most infamous gathering of free-spirited whackjobs in
recorded history. We're only taking about a gathering that would
make Caligula's biggest debauchery look like a Sunday School picnic.
How hard can it be to make allowances for the one person in this
area who covers the City League with any kind of
semi-professionalism? Oh well, if wishes were horses, beggars would
ride.

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

The 93rd campaign of
City League Football begins this Friday, and a league that consisted
of as many as a dozen high schools battling on the oil-soaked dirt
gridirons of the Seventies enters 2012 with exactly half that many
entrants. Langley and Oliver are the latest high schools to enter
the ranks of the fallen in the history of this storied league, where
they take their place among such famous institutions as: Schenley;
Fifth Avenue; Gladstone; Allegheny; South Hills; Peabody; and South.
The players who wore the maroon and white of the Langley Mustangs and
the brown and orange of Oliver's Bears have found new homes among
Brashear's Bulls and Perry's Commodores.

While there are no more high
schools scheduled to close in the near future, there is the question
of what will ultimately happen to the City League in general and
football in particular. The recent acceptance of Allderdice,
Carrick, Brashear and Obama Academy into the WPIAL for certain sports
could be the the first steps towards what many who have watched the
City League over the years including Your City League Advocate have
argued about.

And that is the eventual
disbanding of the League and the merging of its athletics programs
into the WPIAL. For now, the City League will still be contesting
league championships and representing District 8 in the PIAA with all
six schools in football, basketball, volleyball, track and field, and
wrestling. Soccer, baseball and softball will have City teams
participating, but no league playoffs or championships. The
remaining sports will also have league competitions with varying
numbers of schools participating, but in most cases, not Allderdice.

But it is the Advocate's
contention that this arrangement will last but a couple years and
then the PIAA will step in and impose its will on the League to merge
with the WPIAL. The Advocate's position on this matter has been made
clear on numerous occasions so he sees no reason to expound upon it
here.

The Advocate does believe that
absorption into the WPIAL is inevitable. And he is not against it.
One can tilt at windmills for only so long. But he still feels that
the long history of the City League must still be preserved. And
that is something that can only be done by those who have grown up in
the League, and have followed it through its rise and decline.

And make no mistake about it, the
City League has been in decline for over 30 years. The disparity in
competitiveness between the City and the rest of the state in many
sports has never been wider. Fewer athletes are getting exposure to
D1 colleges, and even fewer get looks from major college programs. A
league that has struggled to stay relevant over the years may be on
the verge of being erased completely, its schools subsumed by its
larger all-consuming cousin, the WPIAL.

But until that fateful day comes,
the League still stands. Bending, but not broken. Streamlined down
to its final six survivors. Ready to face its final days, however
many or few that may be, with the grim determination that can only be
found amongst kids who grew up in the inner city with all its
pitfalls and challenges. Many of these kids come from broken homes,
from neighborhoods in stagnation. They have seen friends cut down
before their lives have even had a chance to bloom. They have been
forced to grow up a lot faster than they'd like.

But instead of embracing the life
of gangs and drugs, at least for the time they are in high school,
they turn their energies towards the field of play, towards spirited
athletic competition. And while they lack the luxuries, and the
necessities that their suburban brethren take for granted, they
still have one thing...hope, a chance, a shot, an opportunity, if you
will to make their lives better. To lift themselves out of the
quicksand that claimed so many of their friends and relatives. Some
will make it, some won't. But they all have the chance. Don't feel
sorry for these kids. They won't let you. And they don't want you
to. But they do desire and deserve your support. And the Advocate
has their back.

Okay, campers. Enough of the
sentiment and flowery speech. It's time to play some football. Due
to the small lineup of schools, and the changes in the WPIAL's method
of scheduling, This season has posed significant challenges for the
City League. Because the WPIAL no longer allows member schools to
schedule a non conference game on their own in the first week as in
the past, the routine of City teams opening their season against
WPIAL competition is kaput.

As a result, City League teams
have had to scramble to pick up games when and wherever they could.
Some of the perennial opponents from West Virginia like Wheeling
Central Catholic, Wheeling Park, and Linsly Academy, and familiar
District 10 opponents from Erie like Cathedral Prep, and Strong
Vincent have stepped up to fill holes in schedules, but some new
names and faces will lining up across the scrimmage line against City
League squads this season. Schools like Slippery Rock, Gilmour
Academy from Ohio, and Liberty Christian from Virginia will be
gracing the George with their presence for the first time, while some
City schools will be hopping on the bus and traveling to places like
Grove City, Fort Hill in Maryland, Buckeye Local in Ohio, and for the
first time in the league's history, a City team will be playing on
the road against a team from New York. Every team will be playing at
least one game against an opponent from outside Pennsylvania, and all
but one will be making a trip out of state.

Also due to there only being six
football playing schools in the City League, there are only five
games on the league schedule, making every game even more important
towards getting that coveted playoff seed. Jockeying for playoff
spots will begin as early as the first league games the weekend of
September 13-15. The City Championship game, usually held on the
second Saturday in November has been moved up a week to the first
Saturday.

**Allderdice**

The Post Gazette and the Trib have
the Dragons as the team to beat in the City League this season. And
the 'Dice has plenty of incentive to finally break what is now the
longest championship drought in the City League. The last time the
City Championship trophy paid a visit to 2409 Shady Ave in Squirrel
Hill was 1967. The Advocate was only five years old, The Green Bay
Packers won the first Super Bowl, the ABA was formed, Montreal
hosted the World's Fair, and a team with a similar drought, the
Toronto Maple Leafs won their last Stanley Cup.

The 'Dice has been in the title
game three times since 2000, and has come up empty each time. Two of
the three times have been close affairs, but they had one thing in
common. In both games, Allderdice had a great running game...and
little else in terms of offense.

Let's step back into the dusty
halls of history to the year 1990, which was a banner year for the
'Dice because it was the one and only year that Pitt, and NFL Hall of
Fame great, Curtis Martin wore the Green and White. The Advocate
remembers that season well, because that was the year that the
Dragons mowed down every team in the City League during the regular
season.

But despite having arguably the
greatest running back and offensive weapon in City League history,
Allderdice still didn't win the title. They didn't even get to the
title game. Why is that?, you ask the Advocate. Simple. Curtis
Martin was the entire Allderdice offense. The coaching staff ran him
out of the backfield. They lined him up out wide as a receiver, and
threw to him. And the vast majority of the time, he was a men among
boys. But the coaches didn't have anyone else to keep defenses on
their toes. Other than Martin, they had no passing game. Everyone
knew what was coming, and they still couldn't stop him, but it still
wasn't enough to get the 'Dice to the title.

Last year, Allderdice and
University Prep played for the City Title. Both teams got to the
final game on the backs of swarming relentless defense. University
Prep had shut out 8 of their 11 opponents and had a five game shutout
streak going into that City final. Allderdice's four league wins
were all shutouts, and they held a Brashear team that went undefeated
in league play to a safety in their semifinal game. But the Dragons
lost to the Panthers despite having a running back who rushed for
more than 900 yards during the season. The Dragons had no passing
game.

Their offense, like it was in 1990, was one-dimensional. And
the 'Dice have the same situation going into this season. Patrick
Ferguson, (6-1,250) a 2,900 yard career rusher returns for his final
season to anchor the Allderdice offense. But it's up to quarterback
Bishop Gethers, who has a strong arm, but isn't very accurate, along
with three year starter Cornelius Ray to provide a second dimension
to this offense. Allderdice lost Pitt recruit Tyrique Jarrett, but
will still have a large presence on the line on both sides of the
ball. Shawdi Parker (6-7, 350), and (6-3, 270) Brody Miller will
bring the beef to the lines. The Dragons will open against two teams
from West By-Gawd Virginia. They'll head down to Morgantown to take
on the Mohighans who beat Westinghouse in a shootout 58-36 last year.
The next week will see Linsly Academy come up to the George to open
the home part of the season. Allderdice has yet to beat the Cadets
of Linsly, come to think of it, no one in the City League has. The
Dragons first City League test comes on the 14th of
September when they take on Perry.

**Brashear**

DaBulls lost a lot due to
graduation. 18 players including quarterback Adam Lynch have put on
the cap and gown. But Brashear has also gained about 15 players from
the now-defunct Langley program. The question is, are the former
Mustangs good enough to cover the loss of the former Bulls? The
Advocate says...maybe.

Langley was a doormat for the City
League for as long as the Advocate can remember, which isn't very
much these days due to his rapidly advancing age. AAAnyway, the new
Bulls should be pretty excited to be a part of a program that makes a
yearly appearance in the City playoffs instead of one that was always
on the outside looking in. And it can't hurt to have extra bodies.
Russell Page and Angelo Reed will compete for the quarterback spot,
and Jamal Smith will play on both sides of the ball as a leading
receiver and and defensive back. Former Langley lineman Antonio Rosa
(6-4, 290) will provide bulk on the Bull's O and D-lines. Brashear
went 7-0 in league play during the regular season and lost to
Allderdice 6-2 in their playoff game. The Bulls open the season at
home against Slippery Rock and go on the road the next week against
Wheeling Park.

**Carrick**

The Raiders have an uphill climb
if they are to improve on a record who's only win came against a
school slated to close at the end of the season. The Tribe were
shutout 4 times in 2011, and held to 8 or fewer points 4 times.
Standout players for Carrick include All-City receiver Orlando
Harvard and sophomore rusher Joe Kalsek. Devon Cruse will be under
center as quarterback, and will be depending on a O-line anchored by
All-City sophomore lineman Josh Walker (6-1, 320) The Raiders will
open on the road at Grove City and will host Chestnut Ridge out of
New Paris, PA, between Johnstown and Bedford.

**Perry**

Like the Bulls, the One Stars also
benefited from a nearby school closing, when their long time North
Side rival Oliver got the chop. The major concern facing the Perry
coaching staff was whether the Perry and Oliver kids would get along.
The rivalry between the Bears and the Commodores was a long and
heated one.

And getting players from both
schools to come together required some delicate work as well as
numerous team-building activities. But it seems that those efforts
were largely successful. The Advocate thinks that Perry upgraded
their program with the addition of the Oliver transfers to a greater
extent than Brashear did with the kids from Langley. Oliver had seen
better days, football and academic-wise, but was still a better
program than Langley. As usual, Perry will have studs on offense.
Standout All-City receiver Shakeem Cox, a former Oliver Bear will
provide an immediate impact. Cox's versatility is also apparent in
that he can also play quarterback if needed, which should provide the
potential for trickeration and gadgetry.

Curtis Edmonds and Robert Willie
return to tote the pig. But the Commodores have lost their star
quarterback Darrelle Carson who threw for over 1,200 yards and 11
touchdowns. Replacing him will be (6-0, 205) Ahmad Turner. While
their linemen are a tad smaller compared to the behemoths playing at
other schools, never count out Perry's coaching staff. They teach
the fundamentals, they inspire their players, and they have a bunch
of trophies to prove it.

Perry's tradition of scrimmaging
and playing quality opponents anywhere continues as the One Stars
open with two games on the road against perennial Catholic
powerhouses, Erie Cathedral Prep and St. Pius X. Perry and ECP know
each other very well having played multiple times in PIAA playoff
games. And Pius X is a yearly contender in the PIAA's.

On September 28, The Commodores
will host Liberty Christian from Virginia, and the Advocate knows
what you're thinking. Yes, that is the Liberty Christian founded by
Rev. Jerry Falwell as a part of their massive Liberty
University/Thomas Road Baptist Church empire. The Advocate did a
little snooping around, and found out that Liberty Christian is a
pretty good team. They went 11-0 last season. Perry will have their
hands full. This could be the game of the season to check out.

**University Prep**

The Panthers are now the Wildcats.
U-Prep won the City Title last season in their first year of
existence and came within one point of the being the first City
League team to win a PIAA Class AAAA playoff game. U-Prep had an
impressive 11-2 debut in 2011, beating perennial state playoff
contender St. Pius X 24-12, and losing to State College in the AAAA
playoffs in a thriller, 33-32. They outscored their City playoff
opponents 32-0.

Until their loss to State College,
the Panthers/Wildcats had only one game where they gave up more than
12 points. And until they just added a road game for Sept 8th
against Aquinas Institute of Rochester, NY, they weren't going to
open their season until almost three weeks after the rest of the
league. U-Prep will be the only team in the City League to have an
open date this weekend. According to an article
in the Tribune-Review, the Wildcats would have gone as far as
Michigan to play this weekend. But the plans fell through, and the
'Cats are sitting idle.

U-Prep graduated their stud
rusher/linebacker, Jaylen Coleman, and their starting quarterback,
Dante Forte. But the cupboard isn't bare. Akil Young will take up
the duties under center, and Myles Caitlin will be the primary
offensive target. Marcus Johnson and Stephon Hawthorne will also add
versatility to the offense. The O-line is full of starters. And the
linebacking corps should be competent, but they'll need to find
people to step up in the secondary.

**Westinghouse**

The Big Bads are looking to
transition from City League pretender to contender. The 'House
hasn't added to their league-leading 35 City Titles since 1996. The
2012 Bulldogs are a very young squad, and being the smallest school
in the City League, they are also battling attrition. And the
closures of Oliver and Langley didn't add to the 'House's lineup.
The one advantage of being so young is that it can pay dividends down
the road. Ronald Brown will handle quarterback duties for
Westinghouse. He has a strong arm and the coaches are impressed with
his accuracy. Brown will have two good sized receivers to throw to in
6-2 Robert Bailey, who'll also play hoops for the 'House, as well as
6-1 freshman Sean Lyons. Westinghouse will open the season with two
road games. This weekend, they'll travel to Buckeye Local, an Ohio
AAAA school, and then six days later, down the road to Wheeling
Central Catholic.

So, after all this wordage, who
does the Advocate see hoisting the hardware on November 3rd?
If Allderdice can develop a passing game that can complement their
strong running attack, then there is a good chance that the Dragons
can win their first City title in 45 years. Although he's not as
bullish on his Dragons as the pundits at the PG and the Trib. They
will definitely be a playoff contender, along with Brashear, Perry
and U-Prep. But as far as the Advocate can see, there is no head and
shoulders team that he'd tell his readers to bet the kiddies college
fund on.

Brashear has a lot of new bodies
from Langley, but only a few will be significant contributors this
season, and they won't make up for the losses to graduation.

Perry also has a transfusion of
talent from Oliver, and unlike Brashear, they have harvested a bigger
upside. The Advocate believes the Commodores are the only threat to
Allderdice.

U-Prep lost a lot of its defense,
and that explosive running attack. But while they have players coming
back, the Advocate doesn't see the Wildcats having the year they had
last year.

Friday, July 13, 2012

It's been a while since I've posted anything of substance to the Scribbler. Maybe it means that the days of this thing are numbered. A lot going on in the world, but I've chosen not to opine about it. The upcoming Presidential election and all the partisan bickering by both sides have made me decide to keep my opinions to myself, lest I either be labeled as Un-American by one side or unenlightened by the other. So I've stayed away from politics, and all the kerfuffle about what's happened at Penn State re: the fallout from the Sandusky scandal. I tend to write about the stuff that gets into my head and won't leave until I put it into writing. And a lot of it has nothing to do with the events of the day. Lately, I've been putting most of my writing chops into my latest Oh My Goddess! fanfic.

But the sturm und drang that has erupted recently with the release of the US Olympics team's uniforms has planted itself into my head, and won't go away until I put something down on it. ABC News posted this story about lawmakers who want to have the Ralph Lauren designed, and Chinese made uniforms 'burned.'

Now, personally, the fact that politicians like Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi are woofing and hollering with such righteous indignation about the origin of our Olympic teams uniforms is more than a little funny because many of the actions of Democrats and Republicans in Congress over the years have pretty much placed the textile industry in the United States on life support for years, and I'd love to look into their closets and see how of their $1,000+ suits and dresses are made in the good ol' US of A. This is typical grandstanding and piling on by our elected representatives in an election year, because it makes for cheap political points, and it gets folks all bent out of shape, which makes the media content providers happy.

And of course, the right will blame Obama because it happened on his watch and because it's a presidential election year, even though we've been getting many of our goods from China while there have been Democratic and Republican presidents occupying 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. When yinz folks go to Wal-Mart to save a buck or two on Pudding-Pops for the kiddies, where do you think Little Joey's Angry Birds T-shirt was made? I'll give you three guesses and the first two don't count.

I understand why businesses would rather make their stuff in China. A business makes money by maximizing their revenue, and minimizing their costs. And labor is usually the largest cost for any business. Chinese workers will work for a whole lot less than American ones. Face facts. Americans want American workers to make their stuff, but they don't necessarily want to pay the extra premium that American workers will demand.

But Pelosi, Reed et al do have a point. While people won't grumble all that much about Little Joey's Angry Birds T-shirt being made China, anything having to do with the Stars and Stripes will get American's dander up. The US Olympic team represent the people of the United States of America. They have sacrificed time, blood, sweat, and tears, endured career threatening injuries, and unlike most other nations, get no support from the government. The US Olympic Committee is funded entirely by private funding, including donations from people like you and me. But they also get funding from corporate sponsorships, and the clothing manufacturers also get to put their logo on the uniforms. Government does not put one red cent into the funding of the Olympic team.

But getting back to my point, these young men and women put all this time and effort out for one thing...to wear the colors of their country. One of the highest forms of patriotism is to represent your country, whether in field of battle or the field of competition. The least the Olympic committee could have done is to have Ralph Lauren commit to making the uniforms in the United States by American workers.

Now, would having the uniforms made in the US, have revived the textile industry in this country? No, it would have been akin to dropping a glass of water into a dried out Lake Michigan. But it would have shown that the athletic ambassadors of America, who work so hard, and get so little support from the government that Pelosi, Reed et al make their sizable living running, would at least be able to proudly walk out on the Olympic Stadium floor in London in two weeks wearing gear made in this country proudly made by the people whom they will represent in victory and defeat.